Mr Driscoll announced his resignation on the eve of his expulsion hearing, blaming the Labor Party and "attention seekers" for the controversies that have engulfed him for months.

I supposedly sit there like Dr Evil ... while stroking some hairless cat

‘‘We’ve been fed lines about some sort of secret ‘‘bat cave’’ type set-up apparently operating in a secret wall cavity in my Redcliffe office with massive rivers of gold and diamonds basically flowing through to companies my family is linked to,’’ he said.

‘‘And I supposedly sit there like Dr Evil and get confused between how many millions, billions and trillions are being made while stroking some hairless cat.’’

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Mr Driscoll has been accused of secretly running the Queensland Retailers and Shopkeepers Association and the Regional Community Association Moreton Bay while an MP and funnelling thousands of dollars from the community group to Norsefire, a company owned by his wife.

He has also been accused of approaching Woolworths about changing the QRSA's policy on extending trade opening hours in exchange for a cash donation to the lobby group.

Mr Driscoll said he would now dedicate his energy to serving the people of Redcliffe and try to put the allegations behind him.

"We've heard various utter rubbish allegations that I've basically exercised some sort of special 'Jedi mind control' over people on private boards that I've never even sat on myself or had a razoo of power over, just so they would give my wife a job, or offer her company a contract to provide services, even before I was elected to parliament," he said.

"I mean fair dinkum, it's pretty insulting stuff against a woman like my wife who is more than able to get a job herself on her own merits and has run her own successful business long before she met me."

Mr Driscoll said he looked forward to a ‘‘productive, constructive and professional’’ relationship with the Newman government.

Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk, meatime, said Saturday that the real test for Mr Newman would be whether he accepted Mr Driscoll's vote when parliament resumed next month.

Ms Palaszczuk said it showed a failure of leadership from the premier that it was the party executive that was about to take action rather than him.

She saif Mr Driscoll should also front up to parliament and the media to answer a number of questions that still remained unanswered.

Mr Driscoll is the fourth LNP MP to resign from the party since it was elected to government in a resounding victory a little over a year ago.

In quitting the party, he follows in the footsteps of Alex Douglas, Carl Judge and Ray Hopper.

‘‘I’m not going to let ‘‘Team Labor’’ plus a few other attention seekers get in my way of fighting for Redcliffe locals, all because Labor’s totally obsessed with attacking the LNP brand in any way they can, regardless of what is right or or wrong," Mr Driscoll said in the two page statement.

At the same time as his statement of resignation was landing in journalists' inboxes, Mr Driscoll posted about his pride in his work on Facebook.

"We live in the best place in the best state!" he wrote.

"Proud to be the servant of the people of my home town of Redcliffe!"

Premier Campbell Newman is yet to comment on Mr Driscoll's departure, but his party has issued a brief statement.

"The LNP has received a notice from Scott Driscoll MP resigning his membership of the party," it said.

There was speculation Mr Driscoll would resign before the hearing when it was discovered he had removed his LNP membership from his declaration of interests on April 12.

With AAP

59 comments so far

If he has resigned from the party then he must have thought he had done something wrong. If they were going to expel him then they must have thought he had done something wrong. Either way he should have been terminated from the party when it was first raised. Instead they blamed the Courier Fail. We've had Nuttall, Thompson, et al then Driscoll, and now this Abbott staffer accused by Peter van Onselen (not exactly a left wing journalist) and others who heard him threatening to "cut your throat" or something similar and Abbott first denying it then saying he was demoted. Demoted to what? He should be sacked as people with those sorts of ideas should be nowhere near the political sphere. When oh when are politicians going to realise that people will not stand for this sort of behaviour. It is about time they ALL woke up to themselves.

Commenter

Pollyho

Date and time

April 19, 2013, 6:51PM

The most interesting thing about Abbott's staffer being demoted, was to learn that Abbott actually has a Director of Policy! Not exactly the busiest job in the world!

Commenter

Harsh Reality

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 11:21AM

Fortunately we have "Due Process" here in Australia. The media likes to shoot first and ask questions later because it sells papers.

Commenter

Oscar

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 11:28AM

good comment

Commenter

Bob Menzies

Location

Beenleigh

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 12:05PM

The LNP is a rabble

Commenter

Geoff

Date and time

April 19, 2013, 6:54PM

Still a better option than the ALP.

Commenter

Rastus321

Location

NGC Qld.

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 8:28AM

No they aren't.

Commenter

So There

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 11:48AM

The LNP has broken election promises, shrunk the states economy, increased unemployment and has a continuing parade of members involved in scandal. How much of a disaster do they have to be before you recognise that they are not capable of government Rastus?

Commenter

Peter Stanton

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 12:06PM

Rabble? mmmmm, not at all like the ruling class, aristocratic union government that just departed? the ruling class government which decided it would recycle sewage into drinking water and notify the voters later.... the ruling class government which would appoint kate jone's husband onto $500k per annum posting at at the public service Qld Rail..... the ruling class union government which announced a secret squirrel selloff of public service corporations only weeks after an election......then there is the ruling class union government which gave commercial in confidence information to nathan tinkler so he could use the information to become a billionaire...

Commenter

swinging voter

Date and time

April 20, 2013, 1:55PM

It matters not if he was jumped or pushed. What matters is the LNP's failure to preselect competent and honest people to run for Parliament. I don't think Australia has seen a more incompetent party than the LNP, with the possible exception of One Nation. Although at least One Nation had a leader with policies. I disagreed with those policies, but at least we knew what she stood for. The LNP is a leaderless visionless mess of a Government, and it just keeps getting worse.

25 Mar
Embattled Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll has been cast into the parliamentary wilderness by Premier Campbell Newman while controversy shrouds his dealings with a taxpayer-funded community association.